Q Poll: McMahon Continues To Chip Away At Blumenthal's Lead In Senate Race

August 04, 2010|By DANIELA ALTIMARI, daltimari@courant.com

Republican front-runner Linda McMahon continues to chip away at Democrat Richard Blumenthal's once overwhelming lead in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday.

Blumenthal, the state's longtime attorney general, holds a lead of 10 percentage points over McMahon, a newcomer to elective politics.

In many political contests, a double-digit lead would be something to crow about. But Blumenthal has lost significant ground since he entered the race in January, when the Quinnipiac poll had him trouncing McMahon, 64 percent to 23 percent. Blumenthal held a 20-percentage point lead as recently as June.

Most troubling for Blumenthal: Unaffiliated voters, a key group in Connecticut, seem to be moving toward McMahon, who now holds a slim, two-point edge among independents.

McMahon will face off against two Republican opponents, Rob Simmons and Peter Schiff, in next week's Republican primary for governor. But her strategy since winning the endorsement of delegates at a party convention in May has been to ignore her intra-party rivals and focus intensely on Blumenthal.

"Linda McMahon is spending $50 million in an attempt to buy this Senate seat with negative attacks bombarding Connecticut voters,'' said Mindy Myers, Blumenthal's campaign manager. "So far, all Linda McMahon has demonstrated is that she's got the money to protect her own interests in a 'politics as usual' campaign of negative attacks."

McMahon, the multimillionaire former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, already has spent about $20 million on her campaign and has been running a series of television ads defining herself to voters. Blumenthal also has been on the air with a series of ads highlighting his tenure as attorney general.

"The momentum behind Linda is that she is out every day meeting voters, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for her political opponents to caricature her,'' said her spokesman, Ed Patru. "The ads have increased her recognition, but her personal interaction with voters … is what is responsible for her growing momentum.''

The Quinnipiac poll of 1,299 registered voters showed some weak spots for McMahon. Forty-three percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of McMahon, compared with 37 percent favorable. McMahon's unfavorable rating has more than doubled since the Quinnipiac poll first asked about her in November.

Simmons, the one-time GOP favorite who curtailed his campaign in May only to restart it again last month, has gained ground among likely Republican primary voters, according to a separate Quinnipiac poll. Simmons receives 30 percent of the Republican primary vote, compared with McMahon's 47 percent. Weston pundit Peter Schiff picks up 14 percent of the GOP vote.